Dinner for Two
by Bijuewled
Summary: Being stood up was the icing on the cake for her old relationship, and being on an empty stomach would suddenly have its perks, like meeting your new designated sexy, pink-haired boyfriend for the night. Nalu AU


_**A/N:** Hello there jewels! This is based off of a post I saw on tumblr, and I couldn't resist. So instead of writing the bunch of college papers I've been assigned, I give you this lovely one-shot brought to you by my Art History class. This is also posted on my tumblr, if you wanna follow me the link is in my bio!_

* * *

The delectable scents of marinara and freshly baked bread wafted through the cheerful air of the restaurant, setting Lucy's tastebuds ablaze with dire need and desire, her stomach grumbling incessantly as she eyed a child sitting a few tables over as he enjoyed a piece of chicken parmesan. If only she could be so lucky…

She looked to her phone and tapped the screen to bring it to life, the light of her phone reflecting off of the smooth and shining surface of her perfectly manicured nail. The clock on her phone read _7:30_ , and to her disappointment, no new messages either.

No new messages, and he was _an hour and a half_ late.

"Um, Miss?"

Lucy's eyes immediately darted away from her phone screen as a waitress wearing a white button-down blouse and black pants stood before her, her hair cascading down her shoulders in brown waves. Her green eyes stared into Lucy's sadly, which sent guilt tumbling down Lucy's throat when she would have preferred some pasta in its place.

"Are you…ready to order?" she asked Lucy, frowning as she glanced at the empty seat across the table.

Lucy looked along with her, and sighed. "My boyfriend shouldn't be much longer, m'am. I apologize."

The waitress nodded at Lucy sadly before walking away to the adjoining table next to Lucy's, putting on a bright smile as she asked the couple seated there if their food was satisfactory. And for their sake, Lucy was glad that at least someone was having a pleasurable experience at the restaurant on a date.

She sighed as she wrapped her arms around her black leather jacket and crossed her legging-clad legs underneath the table, her pink ballet flats clicking together. She let her chin fall to the wooden table, glaring at her phone as she waited for it to light up with the news that her douche of a boyfriend was on his way, or better yet, that he'd arrived. Lucy wouldn't have put it past him to stand her up, after all, that was just the kind of person he was. She didn't have a single clue as to why she was still dating the jerk, maybe it had to do with the fact that he was the first man to ask her out when she'd first moved to Magnolia two months prior to the current date. She fell instantly for his charm and seemingly good looks, those blue eyes of his were just so captivating and alluring, it was no wonder that she'd agreed to be his girlfriend after only knowing him for two weeks at the most. Looking back, it had been the most ridiculous decision she'd ever made. After all, what kind of boyfriend would stare at other women and constantly comment on her choice of clothing? Certainly no normal boyfriend, that's for sure.

It also hadn't helped that their fight earlier that day was probably the reason as to why she was sitting by herself at the restaurant, he was probably getting drunk by himself with the full intention of skipping their five week anniversary, living up to the promise of breaking up with her. Lucy felt a tightness grip onto her heart at the thought that he didn't care enough about her to celebrate the fact that they'd been together for that long, that they'd made a great landmark in their relationship and he didn't even care enough to even acknowledge it. On anniversaries, her friends would get kisses and hugs and undying promises. While Lucy, on the other hand, had gotten nothing but a pointless argument and an empty stomach.

And as if the night couldn't get any worse, Lucy eyes darted towards the seemingly happy couple a table away on instinct, and her eyes met the pair that belonged to the female. A brief glance was all it took for her face to contort into that of sympathy, her glossed lips dropping into a sad and pitiful frown, her blue eyes shimmering with sympathy as Lucy quickly glanced in the other direction, an embarrassed flush spreading onto her cheeks. She didn't even have to look back towards the rest of the restaurant to know that the woman's male companion looked on at her sadly as well, not to mention that Lucy could feel the entire restaurant staring at her and the empty seat that nobody had bothered to occupy at her table. Dozens of eyes were on her as Lucy hesitantly tapped at her phone screen once more, only to see that her inbox was still empty, along with her heart.

Some boyfriend, or rather, _ex_ boyfriend now. She'd had enough waiting, and enough holding out on the fact that maybe, just maybe, he would've shown up like he'd promised.

And just like her stomach, that promise was empty.

Bangs shielding her wet eyes, Lucy stood up from her seat as the waitress sauntered briskly over to her table. "Miss, I'm afraid that we've waited too long, and we do have others waiting to be seated." she said apologetically.

Lucy smiled sadly, knowing that her time was up. "I was already on my way ou-"

"Hey, Babe! I made it!"

Lucy cut herself off at the sudden voice that boomed out excitedly within her earshot, and she and the waitress immediately turned towards the source of the voice.

Lucy's eyes widened as she drank up the appearance of the man who casually sauntered towards them, a bright smile plastered on his face. His tanned skin glowed underneath the dim lighting of the restaurant, tanned muscles outlining the thin jacket draped over his shoulders, while the white t-shirt he wore underneath it gave her a sneak-peek of the muscles on his chest; jeans and a pair of black sneakers finished up his entire look nicely. His eyes were dark and enchanting, though in the light, they turned hazel, something that Lucy had found to be incredibly fascinating. He ran a tanned hand through his spiky rose-pink locks, and the action itself turned Lucy's cheeks into a matching shade of his hair. What's more, he looked about her age.

"Sorry I'm late, traffic is just insane right now!" he said to her, suddenly leaning forward and planting a light kiss on her cheek.

Lucy's eyes immediately widened, her entire face becoming incredibly heated as his lips left her cheek and swiftly headed in the direction of her left ear, his breath warm and shiver inducing. "Just go along with it, 'k? I'm Natsu." he whispered quietly, before drawing back from her ear, then continuing his speech. "Hope you haven't ordered yet! Anything look good?"

Lucy's throat went dry. _Ok Lucy, an incredibly hot guy just kissed you_ _…_ _on the cheek_ _…_ _remain completely and utterly calm_ _…_ "I-Uhh-"

"Perfect! So all parties are here?" the waitress asked Lucy with a bright smile, glancing back between her and the man who was seemingly named after the summer. "This is your boyfriend?"

Lucy bit her bottom lip as she turned her attention away from her waitress and towards Natsu.

A warmed feeling began to spread in her stomach as he grinned at her, almost as if nothing were out of the ordinary in the first place, almost as if his fake title wasn't so fake after all.

A bright smile, incredibly sexy features, and pink hair…this man was most definitely not her boyfriend.

But, it wasn't like she would let that secret slip.

She felt her lips spread into a grateful smile, her cheeks warming with a hint of wonder.

"Yeah, he is."

"Excellent! I'll go get you guys some menus!" their waitress said brightly, turning on her heels and leaving the two of them alone together, Lucy waiting and watching until their waitress completely vanished from sight. She then collapsed into her chair, sighing, her heart pounding as she released a large puff of breath from her shaking lips.

This certainly wasn't the dinner that she had in mind.

"So," Natsu said, sitting down in the chair adjacent from Lucy, propping his elbows up on the table and flashing her that same grin that sent shivers down her spine. "What's good here? I'm starving!"

Lucy watched as his eyes began to glitter in excitement, and she couldn't help but giggle softly, placing her hand over her lips to mask her laughter, being careful not to smudge her lipgloss. "I'll need to look at a menu first." she told him, smirking. "And so do you, _oh_ Starving _One._ "

Natsu laughed lightly as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Heh, I guess you're right."

Lucy smiled warmly at the incredibly sheepish man before her, amazed that he could have such a carefree attitude. He made everything seem so natural, hell, he wasn't even her real boyfriend!

"Thank you." Lucy said softly, her lips forming a soft smile as they swept upwards slowly to meet Natsu's, the light turning his eyes back to their enchanting hazel.

Natsu's amused face slowly melted away like an ice cream sundae, warmth spreading across his features as his mouth dropped from his attractive smile into that of a taut line. "Whoever didn't bother to show up is a huge dick. Your boyfriend, I assume?" he asked her, his brows furrowed.

Lucy frowned. "Yeah." She turned her head to the right, her long, blonde ponytail swishing around with her. She felt her fingernails digging into the padded black foam of her seat, un-doubtingly leaving crescent shaped indents in the dark seating.

"Well, he sounds like a total idiot if he's okay with ditching someone as pretty as you." Natsu told her, causing Lucy's cheeks to light up as she swiveled her head around to face Natsu. To her surprise, his own eyes mirrored hers as he quickly turned away from her. "Erm, well, you know what I mean." he finished lamely, though turning back to face her with a small grin on his face.

 _Did he just call me pretty?_ Lucy thought to herself, fighting away the blush on her face. "You didn't have to do that, you know. I would've been okay with going home and getting some take-out."

"What? And make you eat all that delicious food by yourself? What kind of gentleman would I be if I let ya do that?" Natsu asked her, causing Lucy to smile at him, letting out a small fit of laughter. "And besides, I wouldn't have been able to meet my _new girlfriend!_ " he said, making emphasis on the end of his sentence. "Who, by the way, I haven't gotten the name of yet."

Lucy smirked at him, resting her chin on her hand as she stared at him with glittering eyes. "I'm Lucy."

"Well, _Lucy_ ," Natsu said, grinning mischievously towards her. "I bet ya I can eat more slices of tiramisu cake than you can."

Her hand dropped from her chin, and she raised her eyebrows at Natsu's challenge. "You're on, _Natsu._ "

Lucy had lost count of how many times she'd smiled that night, but she knew that each and every single one was worth it.

* * *

"You didn't have to walk me home, you know." Lucy said a few hours later as they made their way down the quiet sidewalk, the light from the street lanterns illuminating their skin and hair.

Natsu stole a glance at her as he waved her off. "And let you walk home alone? Please, I have a little sister, I wasn't gonna let a girl walk these streets alone at night."

Lucy smiled up at him. "You have a sister?"

Natsu grinned down at her sheepishly. "Yeah, her name's Wendy. She's five years younger than us, but she's a firecracker; sweet all around, but she knows how to handle herself pretty well."

"She sounds great." Lucy said, meaning it entirely. "I'd love to meet her."

Lucy immediately regretted her speech, worrying that she'd come off in a negative way. Hell, they weren't even really dating, though her body language kept telling her otherwise.

The whole night had been an absolute dream, and Natsu had been a perfect gentleman. There wasn't a single moment that night that Lucy wasn't laughing, if anything, she'd laughed so much that she feared that she'd disrupted the others in the restaurant. Natsu wasn't at all how she'd expected him to be, not that she'd expected him to be a huge jerk or anything. They spent the entire night drinking bubbling sodas and twirling thickly cut pasta with creamy Alfredo sauce on their forks; well, Lucy did most of the twirling while Natsu just shoveled the noodles into his mouth. And, much to her childhood fantasy's disappointment, they hadn't shared a plate of spaghetti and tried to suck the same strand of pasta into their mouths, which would ultimately end in the result that their lips would meet like in _Lady and the Tramp,_ regardless that she and Natsu weren't 'd each made it through three slices of tiramisu cake before calling it quits, Lucy sucking up her pride as she ate every last bit of her cake, not wanting to be beat out by a pink-haired bottomless pit.

Natsu was exactly what she'd needed that night, he was everything and more.

"Yeah, I'd like that." Natsu said softly.

Immediately noticing the drop in Natsu's voice, Lucy looked down at the pavement, a strange beat beginning to echo in her heart.

"I mean…I bet she would too…it'd be like having a big sister—uh, not me havin' a big sister—but her having one—having you—having us as big siblings—n-no wait not you and me as siblings! What I mean is—uh…" Natsu stammered awkwardly, causing Lucy to giggle softly as she playfully nudged his side with her shoulder. "It's okay, I understand what you mean. I think the cake got to your head, huh?"

The springtime night air blew into their bodies as they continued their stride down the paved sidewalk, her ballet flats clicking against the ground in a rhythmic beat. Lucy smiled to herself softly as her mind took her through the events of the night all over again, lingering on every savory moment that she may have spent alone in shame if he hadn't shown up when he did. She could only imagine what her night would've been like if she'd never seen those enchanting eyes, those tanned muscles, that exotic pink hair, that endearingly _warm and sexy smile_ _…_

"Will you go out with me?"

Lucy's mind froze in her thoughts, surprised eyes turning towards Natsu's as she examined the determined look on his face, his eyes glittering under the lamplight…

Dumbstruck and a little in awe, Lucy's vocabulary completely fizzled out. "Huh?" she'd asked stupidly, mentally smacking herself for acting like a complete idiot.

"Do you wanna…go out?" Natsu tried again, this time, rubbing his fingers through his hair. "We can get dinner, or see a movie, or whatever you're in to. I mean, it was an honor bein' your designated boyfriend for the night, but maybe next time we could—uh—you know, go on a real date?" he tried, his voice drenched in an uncertainty that almost made him seem so…cute.

She'd stopped her gait, planting her feet into the ground as a confused Natsu froze beside her, words beginning to tumble out of his mouth.

"Look, I know that you have boyfriend and all, and I know we just met but I don't think I can stand to not see you smile again, especially not when-" Natsu began, but was brusquely cut off when Lucy suddenly grabbed his shirt into her hands, causing him to look down into her fiery eyes.

"You listen to me, Natsu." she began. "Don't you dare think that this wasn't a real date, because this was the most real and most wonderful date that I've ever been on; whether it had been spontaneous, an accident, or maybe you planned to walk into that restaurant tonight; whatever the case, I wouldn't have traded this night for anything."

She watched as Natsu's eyes widened, and she smiled up at him, releasing his shirt and wrapping her arms around his torso, holding onto the one thing in her night that actually mattered to her.

"Thank you, Natsu, for walking into that restaurant…for giving me the best night of my life…and for probably giving me a few more pounds thanks to that cake." she laughed emotionally. "Just…thank you."

She felt his arms wrap around her body, locking her into his arms, making her feel right at home…right where she wanted to be.

"You're such a weirdo, you know that?" Natsu teased her, resting his chin on top of her head.

"Shut up." Lucy said, smiling into his chest.

"So, is that a yes?" Natsu asked her.

"It's a definite yes." Lucy replied, breaking free of his hold to look up into his eyes. "Any place you have in mind?'

Natsu's lips slowly spread into a grin. "I'm glad you asked, Luce. I know a little place that I've been going to for years. Now, it's a little crazy, it may be overwhelming at times, but it's the best home away from home that I've ever been to. Plus, they make a mean cheesecake."

Lucy's eyes lit up at the idea of more cake. "And do I know this place?"

Their fingers intertwined as they continued down the road, and little did they know that a new bond would be formed, a bond that would undoubtedly remain the strongest and most pristine link of Lucy's life, and while she didn't know where Natsu would take her on her journey, she knew that she absolutely couldn't wait to get started.

Lucy was right, that _certainly_ wasn't the dinner she'd had in mind, it was better.

Much, much better.

"You might, it's a little place called _Fairy Tail_."


End file.
